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Jeff Moore, Lead Engineering Recruiter at Google, talks about the benefits of internships and how they can help advance your career in this week.

Those of you looking for full time work are probably knee deep in interviews and networking. Awesome, keep at it. But there is another whole recruiting phenomenon going on right now: internships.
Internships are HUGE for those of you in school and looking to jumpstart your career, but they are often overlooked by students who are focused solely on grades or extracurricular activities. My advice is to take a summer or semester and do an internship. You’ll have a great time and appreciate the experience. Here’s why:

Experience – One of the best ways to get work experience is to do an internship. I know some of you are thinking something like “Intern = designated coffee maker.” Not true! Internships are a chance for you to work on a cool project and help make an impact within an organization. I had an intern last summer—her project was something I’d been dying to do for a few years and now it’s done. I believe we call that a “win-win.”

Learning – That’s right, learning. A lot of times, early on, you aren’t 100% sure what you want to do as a career. Internships allow you to give different types of jobs and industries a try and see if you like them. Think of it as a free trial. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn during a few months on a job and this newfound knowledge will help you decide where you want to go.

Practice – Internships are like practice for full-time jobs. The whole process runs very similar to full-time hiring, so this is your chance to interview, meet people and work in a much less stressful situation than you will once you have graduated. Think about it, you don’t want the first interview you’ve ever done in your life to be after you’ve graduated and are under serious pressure to find a job. You’ve gotta practice if you want to hone those skills and get the dream job.

Networking! – Ah, what would a blog post be without a networking reference? Internships give you an opportunity to meet great people who can help you throughout your career. It doesn’t matter if it’s someone on your team, your intern host or someone with similar interests, internships expand your network. And, as you know, networking is the key to an effective job search.

So, there you go. If you’re still in school, find an internship and learn as much as you can. Good luck with the search this week and happy interviews everyone!

Introduction:This Week Jeff Moore, a lead engineering recruiter for Google shares tips for preparing a good resume.

Jeff Moore

The fall college recruiting season is upon us…..yikes, what happened to the summer??? Soon your campus will be visited by armies of recruiters looking for the next great employee to join their team. Will you be ready? Are you that person? Well, you might be…but you need to have a stand-out resume to get the conversation started. Before we begin, one thing to remember: A good resume will not get you a job. A good resume will get you the interview and the rest is up to you. With that in mind, here are a few tried and true tips for drafting an awesome resume.

Show off your strengths – Makes sense, right? You want your resume to show off what makes you special and give recruiters a reason to interview you. The big things on your resume should make employers say, “wow!” It doesn’t really matter if it’s your education, internships or special awards, just make sure to show off your skills/experience and try to impress because (cliché alert!) you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

The devil is in the details – A detailed resume is a good resume. The more info you share, the more a recruiter or hiring manager can look at your accomplishments and determine if you are a good fit for their team. For example, which one of these candidates would you want to talk to?

Candidate A – Wrote several applications to improve efficiency within the finance group.

Candidate B – Used Java and PHP to write financial accounting application that saved the company over 25 hours a week of productivity resulting in over $100K in savings.

Remember, your resume is your message to the hiring team—tell them as much as you can so they can make the most informed decision.

Keep it short – Huh? Didn’t he just say, “tell them as much as you can”? I did, but that doesn’t mean you should write a 15 page resume. What you want is a clear, concise resume that accurately describes your accomplishments. Assuming you are a new college grad, you probably want to stick to one page. However, if you have significant accomplishments (publications, open source contributions, startups, awards, etc.) it is acceptable to go on to a second page. Lots of career services folks will tell you “one page only.” I don’t subscribe to that, as long as the content of your resume is relevant.

Spelling and grammar – I don’t even need to mention this…you get it right? We have spell check for a reason. You’d be shocked at how many resumes I see with spelling errors. Grammar and spelling mistakes look sloppy. Don’t be careless, and don’t depend on spell check. Proof read your resume and have others proof it as well.

Know your target – Make sure your resume is targeted to the right audience. I’d recommend you add an “Objective” at the top of your resume (below your name!) that clearly states what your want to accomplish. Think of the objective as your “elevator pitch”, a concise statement to convince the hiring manager or recruiter that you are worth an initial conversation. Your objective and the meat of your resume should portray someone who is a fit for the job and company. For example, if you want a job at a specific company write an objective like this:

Objective – To obtain a fast-paced and exciting role within the Google Staffing team.

As opposed to this….

Objective – To get a job at Google.

Again, this stuff isn’t rocket science, you just have to be thoughtful and thorough to make sure you sound like someone worth interviewing.

Ok, good luck out there! Get those resumes polished and start talking to people. A great job is out there for you and it all starts with that great resume!

Like this:

Introduction: Jeff Moore,a lead engineering recruiter for Google, gives his advice on speaking with recruiters just like him… Jeff has over 10 years of recruiting experience in the high tech and software industries and is currently responsible for recruiting world class engineers to join Google’s offices in Atlanta, Cambridge, Chicago, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Waterloo and Washington DC.

Recruiters tend to be pretty unique folks. We’re generally outgoing and can usually have a conversation with anyone about most anything. That being said, talking to recruiters is a bit of an art form. Let me explain a few thoughts on how best to work with a recruiter.

Do’s – Tell us what you are looking for in a job. Being confident and assertive in your goals is like music to our ears and helps us figure out if we have a role for you.

Don’t – Say things like “I’m not sure,” “I’m up for anything,” “I don’t care what I do.” These phrases are a turn-off for recruiters. We want to hire you, tell me why we should!

Do ‘s– Show some personality and sense of humor. Depending on the day, that friendly recruiter you’re talking to may have spoken with several hundred people by the time you get to them. We appreciate a good joke or funny personal story, and it helps make an impression.

Don’t – Be unprofessional. Recruiters talk to people for a living, it’s our job. No matter how friendly the tone, remember the conversation is strictly professional. Never ask a recruiter out on a date or put them in an uncomfortable situation. Recruiters want to see if you’re a fit for their organization and that’s it. All business.

Do ‘s– Ask questions. Recruiters don’t expect you to know everything there is to know about our organizations. We are more than happy to answer questions and help you learn about the company. I love it when a candidate asks me, “What do you like best at Google?” and then follows up with, “and what do you like least?” Recruiters like thoughtful and interesting discussions. Engage us.

Don’t – Make assumptions about what you think we’ll want to hear. Nothing will drive a recruiter crazy faster than when someone drops a bunch of cliché, elevator pitch lingo into a conversation. Be thoughtful and genuine and recruiters will return the favor.

Don’t – Stress. Recruiters don’t care if you stumble over your words or forget our names or confuse us with other companies. We get it. Looking for a job is stressful and sometimes stress causes us to do funny things. Take a deep breath, it will all be fine.

I hope these tips help. Good recruiters will talk to anyone about anything in an effort to find the best talent on the planet. Good luck!